University of Hawaiʻi administrators hope to learn more this week about how deep budget cuts will be as a result of a U.S. Department of Education decision to reduce funds for Alaska Native and Native Hawaiian programs.
Chad Walton, the interim vice president for research and innovation at UH, said the principal investigators of the various programs were meeting Monday morning with U.S. DOE officials to get clarification on the use of the discretionary funding.
Some programs could see $10 million disappear next Tuesday. Title III has to do with funding for minority-serving institutions, specifically Native Hawaiian and Alaska groups, and Title VI has to do with workforce development.
Walton said another $45 million could be impacted in the months to come.
UH said funding for Hawaiʻinuiākea School of Hawaiian Knowledge is provided separately by the state.
Interview highlights
On Title III funding cuts (at all UH campuses except one community college)
CHAD WALTON: The Title III Part A, the discretionary funds — those are the programs that receive the non-continuation notices. And University of Hawaiʻi received 11 notices of the 22 programs that we have under that Title III Part A. The remaining balances, because these are multi-year awards, the total was $55.7 million of the value of the awards, but the total budget that's remaining is $10 million. So we're looking at a potential $10 million loss if we don't get the no-cost extensions through the next fiscal year. We're still assessing the personnel impact, because it's not one person on a grant full-time. People might be on multiple grants. They might be on grants for part of their salary. So we need to be able to assess exactly what's happening with each person, and then know the total impact, if we can move people around, or how we're going to address this, but we need to know the time frame and the money that are available currently on these grants in order to do that properly.
On the Strengthening Institutions Program
WALTON: These changes deeply affect the programs and services for our students, faculty, staff. Every dollar reflects lives, opportunities and a sense of belonging that defines our community. These programs were really Hawaiʻi-centered programs that were opportunities for all the students at every institution. The eligibility may be based on a quota for race or socioeconomic need, but the programs themselves were Strengthened Institution Programs, so they do have deep impacts. They're really at the fabric of what we are at the University of Hawaiʻi, it's really impactful for us. These funds don't provide direct scholarships, as I said, they're for strengthening institutions. … They're designed for this infrastructure, provide opportunities for experiential learning, research, faculty development, infrastructure, all those things that would strengthen an institution, not for a specific race. It just happened to be that the eligibility was defined that way.
On Title VI funds at UH Mānoa
WALTON: We also received non-continuation notices for Title VI, which is a program that supports workforce development by strengthening capacity for foreign languages, area studies, international studies; University of Hawaiʻi holds eight grants, the total $5.4 million, under that, and all eight received non-continuation notices. The same holds true for these, is they're multi-year awards. So that $5.4 million accounts for the multi-year, so it's the total value of the award. But at risk right now is $802,000. … This Title VI is for the workforce development, it's to train the workforce to be culturally sensitive. The languages that apply to these different workforces enable them to actually work in areas where languages and different cultures exist. So losing that, we're losing that context, which makes Hawaiʻi a really attractive place to learn, because you're actually going to gain those perspectives. So that's what's going to be impacted by the loss.
On affected Native Hawaiian programs
WALTON: The Native Hawaiian Education program was also affected. We received notices of reduction of funding in those grants, so they weren't terminated and they didn't receive non-continuation clauses, but three of our grants received notices that their budget was being reduced. And so that totaled $843,000 for those programs. And so those programs support innovative approaches to improving Native Hawaiian education success, emphasizing the Native Hawaiian language and culture to student development.
On UH leadership
WALTON: University leadership across the campus right now is looking at ways to assess impacts, and we're gathering all that information together to develop a strategy to sustain these programs that are so vital to really the fabric of who we are. … These programs again strengthen the whole institution, so obviously those become the centerpieces to focus on, but it's really campus-wide that the impacts are going to be felt, because it's not directed specifically for one student — it's for the whole institution.
This story aired on The Conversation on Sept. 22, 2025. The Conversation airs weekdays at 11 a.m. Hannah Kaʻiulani Coburn adapted this interview for the web.
